WHITE COLLAR Season 3 Winter Premiere Advance Review

WHITE COLLAR
Season 3 Winter Premiere Advance Review
“Checkmate” Airing January 17, 2012 at 10 PM EST on USA Network
WHITE COLLAR Tuesdays at 10 PM EST on USA NETWORK
January 8, 2012
By Valerie Leung
Warning: minor spoilers

It has been a very long four and a half months for fans of WHITE COLLAR waiting to find out what happens to Elizabeth Burke (Tiffani Thiessen), aka “Mrs. Suit” after she was kidnapped by Matthew Keller (returning guest star Ross McCall) in the mid-season cliffhanger “Countdown” last August.  In “Checkmate” we pick up where we left off at the scene of the crime – the Burke house.

When we last saw our stoic FBI agent, the look on Peter’s (Tim DeKay) face was a mix of pain, shock and anger.  It does not take long for all that to turn into indescribable fury as he confronts Neal (Matt Bomer) with the truth about the stolen treasure. Neal, who has never lied to Peter, repeats that he did not steal it but admits that he has it and is willing to do whatever it takes to get Elizabeth back.

However, as you will remember in “Countdown”, Mozzie (Willie Garson) said goodbye to Neal and was going to leave New York with the big score he had been looking for all his life.  When Peter and Neal discover that Mozzie had already taken the treasure from the warehouse, Peter is completely overcome with anger like you have never before seen in the man who is normally in control.  Neal confesses that he and Mozzie had a falling out – he wanted to stay and Mozzie wanted the score.  Fans will note this is not the first time we have seen Neal admit to his partner-in-crime-solving that Peter is one of the reasons he cannot leave New York (think back to the Season 1 finale).

Despite the fact Mozzie has gone incommunicado, Neal finds a way to contact him about Elizabeth’s kidnapping.  Since the start of season 3 when the relationships between Peter/Neal and Neal/Mozzie have been on the downward slide into the abyss, there was always one common bond holding the three men together, and it is a brilliant way the writers have found to bring the strays back together to save Elizabeth.

A less forgiving man may have let his anger over Neal’s betrayal of his trust consume him and thrown Neal back in prison but Peter’s priority is to save his wife.  Perhaps he has been hanging around criminals for too long but Peter quickly hatches a plan, with Neal’s and Mozzie’s help, that will buy them enough time for his team to find Elizabeth while he takes down Keller. 

As you would expect, Peter’s plan works, but not without a few glitches and complications along the way, and Peter finds himself once again working on the wrong side of the law.  There are two key scenes that reveal much about the motivations of our characters: one when Mozzie explains to Peter why he is willing to give up his treasure to save Elizabeth (makes you forget all about the trouble he caused in the first place and forgive the rift he caused between Neal and Peter); and the other between Neal and Keller when the two former partners lament their pasts and ponder their present and plans for the future.

We know Keller will stop at nothing to get what he wants and it all comes to a head in a way we have never seen Neal or Peter before and ends with a story arc that will take us out for the rest of the season.

Things to watch out for:

As expected, WHITE COLLAR returns with a solid story (by Alexandra McNally and Joe Henderson), and exceptional performances from the cast; in particular, DeKay, who takes us along with him on Peter’s emotional rollercoaster ride throughout the episode. 

Peter and Neal: you have been greatly missed.  Welcome back!